New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-10-06
Mr.. CLEygLAyYS SPEECHES.

Mr.. Cleveland is not an orator, as Brutus
was. We look in vain through the few arid
sentences which he has addressed to the public
on his Western tour for any suggestion OF
grace, or even for any proof that seeing the
mighty West for the first time has stirred him
at all. His admirers may console themselves
with the thought that, thus far at least, there
have been no slips Of the tongue, such as
sometimes do much to njurc too ready
speaker
This view will satisfy his friends, but can
hardly fail TO disappoint the general public.
There is no country where good speaking is
so common as it is here and yet none where
il is so much admired. Mr.. CIcvclands per-
sonal characteristics seem TO be such az forbid
the idea Of anything like personal enthusiasm,
even on the part of those who believe in him
most thoroughly, but it would at least have
helped to invest his personality with interest
for the people at large to find him a man Of
ideas, and ready in their utterance- not neces-
sarly an orator but man of marked intel
lcctual force and activity. This would have
given pleasure TO men Of all parties. We
venture to say that when Garfield became
President, large proportion Of the Democratic
party took secret pride in the thought that
he ranked with the best trained statesmen Of
the world in scholarship and in political knowl-
edge, while as an orator he probably surpassed
most of them. Mr.. Greclcy's celebrated series
Of speeches in 1872 were listened TO and read
with delight by his opponents as well as his
followers No Democrat, we venture TO say.
ever heard Mr. Blaine speak without intel
lcctual pleasure. Mr.. Cleveland probably
showed us the best nc can do in
his Philadelphia speech at the CEN
tcnary of the Constitution. What an
opportunity that was-to stand there as the
successor of Washington, and run the eye
backward over the century that has passed,
with all its marvellous story What an adj
dress Lincoln, self-taught as he was, would
have delivered, and still have had it no longer.
perhaps, than the commonplace remarks Of
Mr.. Cleveland.
It's Of no use, of course to quarrel with a
man because he is not an orator. But the
President could at least avoid cIudcncss and
carclcssness, even in the meagrc addresses
with which he punctuatcs his tour. His audi.
cncc is large one, and he ought TO respect il.
"1hc Sun" has been cruel enough to show
that most of his Indianapolis speech was
adapted" from the Cyclopedia. This is not
plagiarism, perhaps, but it is just as far from
being wisdom or wit. Certainly he never found
his literary constructions in any such authority.
lie uses "cxpcct" in the sense Of presume
or" suppose" common but inexcusabic error.
He says "socal" when he means "sociablc."
No college professor of rhetoric would pass
the sentence in which he spoke Of foreigners
who come here "for purposes involving dis
tmbance or disadvantage to the body polite"
or that in which he said TO the people OF st.
Louis "Howcvcr much you may impress us
with the greatness Of your city, VIC are certain
to have our hearts filled with grateful apprccia-
ton of the kindness and hospitality of your